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Monday, September 3, 2018

Selling Your Home? Here's How to DIY

Ever sold your home together with a real estate agent, only to find that they eat up a big chunk of your profit? Most people experience this sooner or later when they’ve first entered the real estate market. It seems like an inevitable part of life; if you want to sell your home, you need to pay the real estate agent as well.

Yet, it seems like this is a job that we should be able to take care of as well - without having to pay up as much as we do. You can, in fact, easily sell your home all on your own as long as you have a bit of guidance first.

There are a few areas where the real estate agent has a lot of expertise, and if you want the sale to be a success, it’s a good idea to do it properly.

Here is a comprehensive guide to selling your home yourself so that you can enjoy the profit of it afterwards.

First: Understand the market

When you’re selling your home without a real estate agent, you’re basically cutting out the middleman. While it means a lot more money in your own pocket, it also means that you’re going to have to be the real estate agent - and that’s not always an easy job.

Remember that there is a reason that they tend to charge so much; people simply do not want to spend the time and effort on doing it themselves.

You, on the other hand, is not as lazy. Start by understanding what your property is likely to sell for by hitting the search engine, and having a look at similar properties in a similar area. We’re talking size, of course, amount of bedrooms and how modern the property is - but also whether or not it’s near to a school, close to public transport, and in a generally attractive area.

The only way to understand this is to understand the rest of the market. Spend some time online, searching and browsing, and don’t stop until you’ve gained a clear image of what people should be willing and able to pay for your property.

Next: Get an inspection

You don’t want to start the process of selling your home before you’ve got that inspection over with. Besides from being a responsible thing to do, it can also mean that you save yourself the trouble of getting angry calls from the buyer when they discover that everything isn’t up to date with the property.

Inspecting it is, sadly, not something you can do yourself - unless you’re certified in the area, of course, so pick up the phone and find someone who can take a look at it for you. They need to make sure that the plumbing and electricity are in perfect condition, first of all, but you can also have a look at this article to make sure that you’ve covered everything.

Remember to think about pests as well. While you may be quite certain that you don’t have anything crawling around in your walls, it’s a good idea to be absolutely sure before you sell the problem on to someone else.

It’s only going to backfire, and you’ll end up having to pay a lot more if the pests have caused any damages on the new owners’ property.

#1 It’s time to market it

Now that you have researched the real estate market and know what you’re up against, it is time to get started on the marketing of it. This is where all the fun begins; you know what you’d like to get for it, so you’re going to have to be a great salesperson.

Start by finding a site online where you can list it. It’s a good idea to use multiple sites, by the way, as well as local newspapers to make sure that as many as possible is exposed to your ads. Without anyone seeing it, you’re hardly going to have anyone showing up for those viewings - so this is an important part of your role as an impromptu real estate agent.

You should even consider using social media to reach out to those who don’t even know that they’re interested in buying property yet. These people won’t buy a local paper to check out property ads, and they’re very unlikely to go directly to property sites to find something - with social media, however, you’ll be able to reach them.

Plus, it’s a great way to make your friends and family help you by sharing the post so that even more may be able to see it.

Another point to marketing your property is to put up a big, bright, and professional looking sign in your backyard. You know, those that real estate agents usually put out. That way, you’ll be able to catch the eye of those who just happen to cruise around in the neighborhood - and your neighbors will also be aware of the sale, in case any of them should be interested in an upgrade.

#2 You need good pictures

Now that you have a few channels to market your property on, namely multiple online platforms, social media, as well as a large sign in your backyard, it’s time for the photo shoot.

You need to have some proper pictures if you’d like to show off your property from its best angle. This is also quite important as nothing does your home less justice than trying to show it off through some poor pictures you took with your phone.

Overexposed pictures of the living room, a picture of the garden where it’s impossible to see how big it is, and a few pictures of the bedrooms from dreadful angles - there are so many ways to mess up this photo shoot.

Use a proper camera, if you’re able to, ask a friend who knows a lot about photography, or swallow your camel and hire a professional photographer.

It may sound strange when you’re supposed to be doing this yourself - but the pictures you put on the site are really that important. If you insist on doing it yourself even though you don’t have too much experience as a photographer, you can have a look at this article to make sure you’ve got the basics covered.

#3 It’s show time

Thinking about what a real estate agent does, it’s easy to think that all they do is opening doors for those coming to view the place, and chatting about what it looks like inside. In reality, they do quite a lot more - but showing the place off to prospective buyers is certainly an important job.

That’s why you need to put a lot of effort into this one. You might think that you’ve done a lot already, researching the market, marketing your property, and taking those glossy pictures, but it’s only now that the actual work begins.

Start by advertising when the open house is, and get the property prepared for the date. If your home is looking kind of empty, it’s an excellent idea to rent some furniture for the occasion. Try to choose timeless, high-quality pieces, and have a chat with one of the interior designers at the company about where it would look best.

Everything in the house or apartment needs to look spotless, and you shouldn’t allow for any of your personal belongings to be out and about. Tidy, clean, and make sure that each and every room is looking excellent before you open that door for prospective buyers.

Nothing is going to kill your sale faster than a sloppy-looking property when the buyers come to view it, so make sure that you spend some time on this one.

It’s also a good idea to ask for a pre-approved mortgage loan from them when they come to view your place, by the way, to avoid slowing down the process. There is nothing more annoying than thinking you’ve found the right people for your place, only to find that the bank declined their loan - and you have to start the whole process over again.

While nobody said selling a property would be easy, you’re certainly going to save a lot of money by doing it yourself. If you manage to do it right the first time, you could also be saving yourself quite a lot of time and effort, though, so make sure that you’ve got everything covered before you get started.